


5 Times Mike failed to impress Burt Hummel, and the one time he didn't.

by gryffin_draco



Category: Glee
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-04-12
Updated: 2011-04-12
Packaged: 2017-10-17 23:27:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,352
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/182483
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gryffin_draco/pseuds/gryffin_draco
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for <a href="http://community.livejournal.com/kurtmike/18374.html">Mike/Kurt Summer Love Fic Fest</a>.</p><p>(Prompt 2) 5 Times Mike failed to impress Burt Hummel, and the one time he didn't.</p>
            </blockquote>





	5 Times Mike failed to impress Burt Hummel, and the one time he didn't.

5\. First Meetings

The first time Burt Hummel meets Mike it’s two in the morning after a busy Friday night. For the first time Burt could remember, that evening Kurt had actually begged him to go to a football game using the thinly veiled excuse that it was the first game of the season and that, as a member of an up and coming club and as a new Cheerio, Kurt needed to be seen showing school spirit and supporting the team. Burt had a feeling it was more along the lines of supporting a particular boy on the team, but he held his tongue and took Kurt anyway, enjoying the time with his son.

He regretted the decision, however, when he came home from a late night towing to find a half-drunk Asian boy on his doorstep that Kurt was in the process of sneaking inside.

“Hold it,” Burt called out, secretly enjoying the frozen look of dread on their faces as he walked towards the house. “Kurt, you want to tell me what’s going on here?”

For once, Kurt was stumbling for words. “Well, Mike here is on the football team which, as you know, had their first victory of the fall tonight. You know because we were there, watching, and Mike scored that goal, touchdown, thing and the team was really proud and all,” Kurt stuttered, visibly failing to support the listing boy while trying to think up a reasonable excuse. “And the team has this tradition that they haven’t been able to follow for a while because, well, they suck, where they go to a cabin at the lake to celebrate their victory. And Mike couldn’t get out of it because he was the one that made the run and all, so he went with them. He snuck out, though, when things got too wild and asked if he could crash here. So yeah, I’m just going to go help him downstairs and put him to bed.”

Kurt’s ramble got increasingly fast the further he got into the story, blurring the words together at the end, but Burt had caught enough to get the general idea.

“I don’t think so, kid,” he said, stopping the pair as they attempted to bolt out of the room. “You’re not having a drunk boy sleep in your room. Not now, not when you’re thirty if I have anything to say about it.” He shot a disappointed look in Mike’s direction when said boy’s face took on a dejected expression. “I’m not letting him drive any further tonight, though. Really, Kurt, you should have called me to pick him up instead of letting him drive here. I’m really disappointed in both of you.”

When both adopted a suitably shame-faced expression, Burt sighed and went to the linen closet to get out a set of clean sheets. “Come on, then. Let’s get him to the guest room. He can sleep it off there. In the morning, though, he’s going straight back to his house or I’m calling his mother to inform her of tonight’s events.”

Between the three of them, they managed to get the spare bed made up and Mike out of his shoes. Before leaving the room to let the Asian get settled, Burt turned to address them one last time.

“I’d like to make it perfectly clear that this is the first, and only, time I’m going to do this. I find you drunk again, Mike, and I’m handing you off to your mother no matter what time it is. You hear me?”

“Yes, sir,” Mike mumbled, staring down at his feet.

“Good. Kurt, get to bed.”

With that Burt Hummel walked out of the room hoping like hell this was not the boy Kurt had gone to the football game for.

4\. In The Green Room

It was the evening of the fall Invitationals - Glee club’s first competition of the year - and Burt had gone, hoping to surprise Kurt afterwards. He felt guilty about missing all of their performances last year and decided to make it up to him. Sure, Kurt always said he understood. After all, the garage had to be open to bring in the money that bought him the Alexander McQueen sweaters. Burt wasn’t dumb, however; he knew Kurt was quietly hurt by it, especially when Burt had made it a point to go to his football games.

The kids had performed their numbers beautifully, voices harmonious and dancing energetic to Burt’s untrained eye. When they cleared the stage for the next group Burt got up to sneak backstage and congratulate everyone. He found most of the kids gathered off to the side of the stage watching their competition but no Kurt.

“I think he’s in the green room doing some cool down stretches,” Tina answered when he asked. “He’s a lot better about that than the rest of us. We always forget if Rachel’s not nagging about it, and she always forgets if there’s another group after us.”

“At the risk of sounding like an idiot, what’s a green room and where can I find it?”

Rachel pointed distractedly down the hall. “It’s where the performers wait, and ours is three doors down on the left. There’s a bright red sign. You can’t miss it.”

She was right - Burt was able to find it easily but was surprised to find the door firmly closed. The reason for this was apparent, however, when he walked into the room and saw Kurt under that Asian kid from the month previous, the both of them spread out along the couch. Unfortunately, Burt had a clear enough view to see the hand stretched up under Kurt’s shirt ( _Dear God_ , Burt thought, _I really could have lived without knowing nipple play made my son moan like that_.) and know that Kurt’s raised knee was the only thing blocking him from seeing a dry grind.

Burt cleared his throat strongly and watched as the two sprang apart, pulling their shirts down in an attempt to cover their laps.

“Dad!” Kurt’s eyes widened impossibly large as his face flushed beat red.

Him Burt ignored and instead pointed directly at the other kid. “You. Out. Now.”

“Yes, Sir,” Mike stuttered as he scrambled to his feet. His mad scramble to get out was stopped at the door by Burt’s arm.

“You haven’t been drinking again, have you?”

This time Mike’s eyes were the ones bulging out of his head. “No, Sir. Not a drop since last time. Which was the first and only time, I promise!”

At Burt’s nod he bolted out the door and down the hall.

“Dad,” Kurt began, “you really shouldn’t terrorize Mike like that. He’s a great guy. I swear!”

“Yeah?” Mr. Hummel raised a sardonic eyebrow. “If he’s so great, then why didn’t I know you two were dating?”

“We were waiting for the right time. Once everything was settled and the drama was gone,” Kurt said quietly, staring at the floor. “Mike didn’t want to say anything until we were stable.”

“How long, Kurt?”

He watched as his son’s eyes fixed even more determinately on the floor, lips pinched together, silent.

“Kurt,” Mr. Hummel prodded more firmly.

“Beginning of the summer, end of last school year, or thereabouts,” Kurt said quietly.

Burt sighed in disappointment before shaking his head. “I’m not going to get into this now. I’m just going to tell you that you did great up there and walk back to my seat. But if I were you, I’d start thinking now. We’re going to have a long talk when you get home tonight.”

“Yes, Sir,” Kurt mumbled.

“And I don’t want to see that Mike kid at the house without the rest of your friends until further notice. Especially if I’m not there.”

That said, Burt Hummel turned and walked back to the auditorium before Kurt could work up the courage to protest. He couldn’t handle it right now.

3\. When Kurt Gets Mad

It’s never a good sign when Burt walks through the door in the evening to the smell of burnt food. It’s an even worse sign when a plate of charred food gets slammed in front of him on the dinner table by a glaring Kurt, silently daring him to say something about it. Instead, Burt quietly picked up his utensils and attempted to scrape off enough carbon to make the meal edible while Kurt slams around in the kitchen, pretending to clean up.

This charade Burt is fine with; however, when Kurt comes in and sits close to him on the couch while a replay of a baseball playoff was on tv then Burt had to draw the line.

“Alright,” he said as he muted the tv, “what is it?”

“What is what?” Kurt said, haughtily - a sure sign something serious was bugging him.

“You’ve been in a mood all night. Now, typically I’d ignore it cause it was probably a stained shirt or something, but you’re sitting here watching baseball.”

“I could like baseball,” Kurt demurred.

“No, Kurt, you really couldn’t. No matter how hard you tried. So are you going to tell me or are we going to sit here in silence?”

There was an awkward pause while Kurt fiddled with the sleeve of his sweater. Suddenly, he took a deep breath and blurted out one of the things Burt was dreading.

“I think Mike’s ashamed of me.”

Burt sighed and put a hand on his son’s slight shoulder. “Alright. And why do you think that?”

“He refuses to let me come over to his house, even just as friends hanging out or something.”

“I thought I told you I didn’t want the two of you alone together.”

“No, Dad, you said you didn’t want us alone at this house together. Anyway, that’s not the point. I just…I want to meet his parents, see his house, spend time with the family, play with his dog. I don’t know, just do regular friend things. I’m not even asking him to let me come over for the meet the boyfriend thing. I just…I want to feel like I’m part of his life outside of Glee club.”

Kurt pulled his knees up to his chest and sniffed dejectedly while Burt tried to figure out what to do.

“I know I told you I’m not ready to do the guy talk thing, and I don’t know if I’ll ever be, but if you really think that Mike’s not treating you fairly then you need to speak up and tell him that. If you really want to go to his house, then let him know it’s not a whim. If he’s got a problem with it after you demand it, then he’ll deal with me. Okay?”

Burt patted him once more on the shoulder, then pulled him in closer and turned the sound back on.

The next evening he didn’t even have to walk all the way through the door to know something wasn’t right.

“Kurt?” He called out, walking down the steps to the basement. “Are we having salad tonight or something?”

“No, Dad,” Kurt said hoarsely into the blanket he had wrapped around him, curled up on the bed. “I’m sorry I completely forgot to cook tonight. You think you’d be okay making a sandwich?”

Burt settled on the bed next to him and wrapped an arm around his son. “Yeah, I think I’m capable of making a sandwich for dinner. What happened, kid?”

Kurt sniffed a couple of times, wiping his nose with a handkerchief before speaking. “I demanded to come over. He flat out said no, that it wasn’t negotiable. ‘Sorry, Kurt, but that’s just not possible. I know you want to, but really, it’s better this way.’ So I told him it’d be better if we both took some time to figure out what was possible between us.”

As his son talked, Burt felt his spare hand curl into a tight fist, his teeth grinding as he fought back the nasty words.

“You have any idea why he’s so vehement about this?”

“No! None whatsoever. It’s not like his parents are poor and he’s ashamed of their neighborhood or anything. They’re freaking accountants. And I know Matt goes over there. Finn, too. So the only thing I can think of is that it’s me particularly. He doesn’t want me over.” Kurt moved to sob into Burt’s shoulder. “How could I stay with someone who could tell me he loves me but won’t let me come over to do homework or work on lyrics?”

Burt kissed his son on the top of his head and held him tighter, think of some choice words he’d like to say to that Chang.

By the end of the work week, Kurt had slipped into a deep funk and Burt was combing the aisles of the only store in the area that sold organic groceries, trying to find something to cheer him up. He considered it a stroke of luck when he turned down the next row and came face to face with Mike‘s parents.

“Mr. Hummel. I’ve been meaning to have a talk with you.”

“Mr. and Mrs. Chang,” he said with thinly veiled politeness, “how are you doing?”

“Far better than you, I imagine,” Mrs. Chang said stiffly.

“Excuse me?” Burt questioned, highly confused as to any insult he could have given her.

“I’ve heard rumors about town this past year about that son of yours. I can’t even imagine the shame it must bring you.”

“Now hold on a moment, what shame could my son have possibly brought on me?” Burt asked, anger creeping into his voice.

“Having a boy like that. That’s what happens when you turn your back on God and stop going to church. Maybe it’s not too late to save him if you start bringing him to Sunday service and private sessions with the priest.”

It took a great amount of control for Burt to rein his temper back in, slowly but surely. After some tense silence he finally felt himself calm enough to reply.

“Mrs. Chang, I really don’t see anything about my son that needs saving. He’s a good, honest, hard working kid who is working hard at being successful and proud of himself. Now, if you think it’s a problem that he is who he is, then you can keep it to yourself. I don’t particularly want to hear about it.”

He turned to walk off but paused and spun to face them one last time. “You know, it’s no wonder your son doesn’t want to bring his friends home. I wouldn’t either if that’s the greeting they would look forward to. At the moment, I really don’t fault him for all the times I’ve heard him beg Matt to let him go home with him. Have a good evening, you two.”

Burt ended up leaving the store immediately without buying anything, figuring the news he’d bring home was good enough. When he got back to the house Kurt was curled up on the couch watching 16 Candles for what had to be the hundredth time. Burt leaned over the back of the couch to grab the remote and pause the DVD.

“Hey, Kurt, go call your boyfriend and let this one go.”

“Dad? What?” Kurt blinked up at him in confusion.

“I just had an eye opening experience which I’ll tell you about later. Let’s just say it made me revise my opinion on the situation. Now, I’m not saying Mike handled it well, because he didn’t, but I see where he was coming from. Now, scoot. I want to watch some football and get my mind off things.”

2\. Football Season

Despite the fact that Kurt was no longer on the football team, Burt still went to the games religiously. Part of it was to watch his soon to be step-son, another part was to support his old high school. Neither he nor Finn mentioned these nights to Kurt, afraid it would bring back memories of their big blow up last spring, while the aforementioned either turned a blind eye to the activities or was too wrapped up in his current reality tv obsession to notice.

Tonight’s game had already ended and Burt was standing to the side waiting for the teen to come out of the locker room when he spotted them. The wide receiver was fairly easy to identify being not only the skinniest person on the team but the only Asian as well. Burt watched the kid’s face break into a wide grin as the ditzy blonde cheerleader ran up and tackle hugged him, despite him still being in his sweaty uniform. The girl let out a loud string of laughter as Mike picked her up and twirled them around in a circle making ridiculous airplane noises. When he finally put her back down the pair collapsed to the ground laughing and talking too low for Burt to have any chance of hearing. Not that he needed to hear to know what was going on.

Burt felt his teeth clench tightly, more determined than ever to get his son to break up with the kid. If there was one thing Burt Hummel could not stand in this world it was cheaters. And no cheater was going to have the privilege of going out with Kurt only to end up breaking his heart.

When Finn finally came out of the locker room he looked confused at Burt’s turn of mood but seemed to forget it when Burt offered to take him out for a couple slices of pizza. It would be a great way to grill the quarterback and find out more about this Mike that Kurt was bound and determined to end up crying over.

1\. At The School

Despite Burt Hummel’s increasingly drastic attempts to split the pair up, Kurt and Mike were still together a couple of weeks later when Burt dropped by the school unannounced to bring Kurt the report he’d forgotten. First period was already in session but the office reported that Kurt had not shown up for class. Burt had spied Kurt’s infamous Navigator in the parking lot, so he knew he was on campus somewhere. The pending question, though, was where.

A quick check of both the choir room and the gym, just in case Kurt had gotten caught up rehearsing for Glee or Cheerios, proved fruitless. The hall monitor hadn’t seen him as she made her rounds. The terrifying cheer coach chased him out of her office with a megaphone to face when he popped in to ask her. Not even the doe-eyed guidance councilor had seen him as she went through her daily routine of sanitizing all of the water fountains.

Burt was about to give up and hand the report to the office for delivery when he heard a high pitched male voice echoing behind the closed door of the men’s bathroom. Knowing there was only one guy at school who had that natural tone, Burt turned and shoved the door open, intending to give Kurt a piece of his mind about skipping class. The tableau he found inside, however, trapped the words in his mouth.

Mike was sprawled out on a chair, leaning back against the sink, shirtless. Water was dripping from his hair, sliding down his face and chest. His hands were settled on Kurt’s hips, holding him steady where Kurt was straddling his lap, in the process of running a hand towel along the inside of the waistband of the Asian’s pants.

The footballer’s whispered “ooooh shit” was the first thing to break the frozen silence of the moment. It hadn’t seemed like Kurt’s eyes could go any wider until he gulped and scrambled backwards to stand in front of the chair.

“Dad! I swear this really is _not_ what it looks like.”

Burt’s glare, previously directed at the Asian desperately searching for his shirt, traced over to his son who wisely shrank back and dropped the hand towel.

“It really, really isn’t, Mr. Hummel,” Mike said as he frantically looked around for the missing clothing article. “I don’t think I could stress that any further. I swear to god I wasn’t taking advantage of Kurt or anything that could or could not be running through your mind. And, oh god, I’m just making it worse aren’t I?”

There was no sympathy from Burt as Mike gave up on finding the shirt and buried his face in his hands. Kurt stomped his foot demandingly on the floor and squared his hands on his hips, drawing all attention to himself.

“Stop it, dad! I love you dearly but this has really got to stop. This,” he gestured widely to the bathroom scene, “is honestly not what you thought it was. Do you know what happens to one of us Glee kids daily? To Mike and I nearly twice as often as the others simply because we don’t hide that we‘re together anymore? We get a jumbo slushie thrown at us. It gets all over our face, our hair, our clothes, _down_ our clothes. Why do you think I bring several pairs of clothes to school everyday? I know I should have told you before but I just couldn’t stand you knowing, and worse, threatening to sue the school over it and bringing even more attention to the group. I didn’t want you to think of me as your kid who gets a slushie facial at least once a week.

“You want to know what we were doing before you came in here? I was helping Mike clean up after three of his teammates - people whom he was friends with before daring to date me - surrounded him and each threw a Big Gulp Slushie at him. He has no shirt because his shirt is drenched. Brittany volunteered to sneak past Sylvester to use the Cheerio’s laundry equipment on it and grab him a spare shirt from his car on her way back, which she happily did because she’s been his best friend since he moved to this podunk town. He’s dripping wet because you have to get a lot of water on the slushie fast before it starts to dry and stick to your skin. I was helping clean his chest off because he’d had his head under the sink trying to get the rest of it out of his hair before it stuck.

“Now, if you don’t mind I’d appreciate it if you left before Mike died of embarrassment. I’m going to finish helping my boyfriend clean up because it’s the nice thing to do after he’s voluntarily gotten slushied by former friends for me.” Kurt sniffed, rubbing at the tears in his eyes, and turned back to Mike.

Burt pressed his lips into a tight line and set the report on the sink nearest the door.

“Here. I brought you your report. You left it on the printer this morning. Figured you’d need it.” Kurt sniffed once more and nodded his thanks as he picked up the stack of towels on the ground. “I really don’t approve of you two being in here by yourselves, especially with one of you shirtless, but…I guess it can’t be helped.”

With that he turned and walked out the door, surprised to see the blonde cheerleader from the game jogging down the hall carrying a men’s shirt. She waved distractedly at him as she passed, pushing through the bathroom door and calling out hello to the two inside. He felt bad when he realized this was the friend Brittany and vowed to be a little less harsh on the boys, even if he still didn’t approve.

+1. Some Things Cement It

Though a year had passed since the first time Kurt had been passed over for a prized solo, Burt still remembers the pain his son suffered from the experience as well as each one following. Burt Hummel couldn’t remember how many evenings he’d spent in his son’s basement room consoling him and searching for ways to cheer the boy up. When he got home that evening to hear the familiar stifled sobs drifting up from the open basement door he resigned himself to another night of tears and started to head down the steps. He froze, however, when another male’s voice spoke out.

“I know it’s not fair, sweets. And yes, I fully agree Rachel is getting an inflated head from all the solo attention she’s been getting. But you know what, fuck it. Why would you really want to sing With One Look anyway? Sunset Boulevard is a depressing play, musical…thing.”

Burt heard Kurt choke, trying to repress a laugh, and walked silently further down the stairs, taking in the sight of Kurt curled up against Mike’s lanky frame stretched out on the bed, his head buried in the other’s chest letting the Asian play with his small hands. Mike smiled gently and raised Kurt’s hand to kiss the knuckles.

“Besides, if you were singing it then you wouldn’t be able to dance dramatically with me behind Rachel.”

This time Kurt couldn’t hold back the laughter, small though it was. “She’d never allow it.”

“Oh, not a chance. But I figure we sneak behind her enough times during practice and she’ll get so annoyed with us she’ll have Mr. Schue scrap the song.”

“Then I can swoop in and suggest the new solo act, right?”

“Now you get it. You’ll totally have that lead by the end of next week. My plans never fail.” Kurt smiled as Mike pulled him up off the mattress and on to the floor to spin him slowly before hauling him back in for a hug, rocking the countertenor slowly.

“Oh really? Never?”

Mike shook his head and grinned goofily down at the smaller teen. “Nope, never.”

Burt let a smile pass over his own face before turning and exiting as silently as he entered.

 _Well,_ he thought to himself, _I guess the kid’s not too bad after all._


End file.
